Just back from the Maasdam 1/27

We just returned from the 10 day Maasdam cruise out of Norfolk. On the whole, we had a wonderful time...ate too much good food, saw some wonderful shows, met some wonderful people, and had a few days of fun in the sun away from the frozen tundra of Massachusetts. (GO PATS!!) Would we take a similar cruise out of Norfolk again? No. In theory it seemed like a good idea, but at this time of year the seas were just too rough and the distance too great to get to the Caribbean and back in time. We were late setting sale because the previous sailing was late getting in. When we arrived at Nauticus, there was noone from HAL to greet us and guide us as to where to put our luggage, wait, hand us a glass of something cold to drink. The seas were rough, but not as rough as the return but more on that later. We got to Half Moon Cay late and we didn't make it off the ship until about 1PM. The bbq was extended, but the day was shortened. People who had tender tickets 20 or higher were told to get lunch on the ship. Wome didn't even bother because it was so late. St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua were fine. Smooth waters, warm temps, on time arrivals and departures. We arrived in San Juan at about 8 and all aboard was at 1PM. Too bad the stores didn't open til 10. It almost didn't pay to get off the ship if you didn't have a tour. I would have prefered to skip the port and not have to fight the seas to get back to Norfolk on time. It was apparent that we wouldn't make it. The seas were 20+ feet. I heard that they ran as high as 27 feet. Spray was crashing on the Crow's Nest!! One night we just went to bed after supper (late seating). At least there we couldn't fall down LOL! A few people did fall and injure themselves. We got back to Norfolk 5 hours late. I assume the next sailing left very late. Hope they made their first port. The weather is what it is. Nothing you can do about it. As I said, otherwise we had a good time. The new mattresses and linens are faaaaabulous. The Pinnacle Grille was delish! Nice quiet atmosphere, flawless service, delicious food. The baked Alaska with Ben and Jerry's cherry garcia with cherries jubilee on top was to die for. We never had to wait in line for anything. Half Moon Cay is a beautiful spot for a day at the beach. On the second formal night, the Chief Engineer hosted our table. He was a delight and was very informative. Now, "Cinderella" has to do the wash and pray for the Patriots. As for future cruisers on this route, I hope you have a good time despite the high seas and difficult timing. Safe travels to all.

Judy and Jim

Thanks for the great info. I have 52 days and counting until I make the same trip.

Call me odd, but I enjoy rough seas. A lot of posts have addressed being late into ports of call (ship happens), and I'm planning accordingly by not pre-booking any shore excursions. My experience has been that I find better prices on the docks anyway.

Glad to hear the food, service and accomadations were up to snuff. I read a few bad reviews.

Rather than book an excursion with the ship for Antigua, we took our chances on the dock. There was a "starter" organizing groups for vans at $20 per passenger. There wasn't a lot to see, but we saw pretty much what the ship's tour did: drove through the rain forrest, across the island, an old fort (forgive me, I'm having a senior moment on the name...Hamilton's fort?) and we asked to be left at the beach for 2 hours. He came back for us. His English was understandable and he was informative. On St. Maarten, we took a cab at the dock for Orient beach and then back to town. Again, they were driving vans and the cost to Orient was $5. There were other options at the cab stand and all prices were clearly marked. You could double up with other passengers to lower the pp price.

As for the rough seas, it was exciting for a while, but couldn't see booking the Pinnacle and try to keep the water glasses from flying off the table.

Any day at sea is better than a day in the tundra. Enjoy!!!

Thank you Judy for the Maasdam recap. I check the boards daily for updates since we will boarding the Maadam 2/17. Glad to hear you had a nice time despite the rough seas. I will also be giving an update upon our return...so look for it the beginning of March...

I'm planning accordingly by not pre-booking any shore excursions. My experience has been that I find better prices on the docks anyway.

Agree that there are many options on land for seeing the islands. Having taken this trip last month, just want to let you know that on islands that use tenders, excursion folks get off first! If there is a problem with the tenders, you may be left behind.

Welcome back! I am in the minority of folk who like high winds and heavy seas, but certainly understand their impact. Glad you had an enjoyable time otherwise.

When were you advised that you would be late arriving back in Norfolk? There was a notice in the Saturday paper to that effect, which must have been sent to them before deadline Friday.

Cheers

MarkB

Thank you for the review. We have often looked at the Massdam cruises, thinking that Norfolk is drivable and the itineraries are nice but I know why the waters off the OBX are called the graveyard of the Atlantic. Basically it seems like the first and last days are not going to be sit on the balcony and enjoy the sun days. I think we'll continue to take the two hout flight to FLL.

It depends upon the time of year - we cruised last year on 4/3 and our cruise was fantastic and the weather very nice. The cruise right before ours was not so great. I would avoid any cruise leaving from Norfolk until Spring time.

Thanks for the review - the weather seems to continue to be a problem, but glad you had a good time. :)

Judy and Jim, thanks so much for your report! You have a great attitude and I'm so glad you had such a good time despite rough seas and weather conditions.

This experience supports my theory that the Noordam's maiden voyage out of NY next February could be very similar. I can't afford it anyway so there's no decisions to be made;) .

We were on the cruise before you that left Norfolk on January 16 and returned on the 27th. Everything about our cruise was GREAT except the weather both coming and going off the mid-atlantic coast. It was rolling. Also on the way back something happened around 9PM Jan.26, in the evening where a loud crash hit the ship and cause a lot of concern? Maybe a wave? We will go out of Norfolk again but maybe not in the January-March time period because of the rough seas? We would have liked for the captain to say what happened on the evening of the 26th and state that the ship was OK. TOM

That loud crash was probably a wave. We had a couple of "good ones". As for when we were informed...we had pretty much done the math ourselves on the first sea day out of San Juan. We were officially informed the night before we docked, and then updated in the morning. HAL was busy rebooking air arrangements made through them. They also helped those who had made their own air arrangements, and would send one email for those who were being picked up at the dock.